Yikes! The Gender Gap in Candidate Support Is as Wide as Ever!

Young conservative women, where are you hiding? A new poll by the Pew Research Center has concluded that "Barack Obama's advantages among women voters over his G.O.P. rivals are striking." And that's not the only huge (HUGE!) discrepancy the poll uncovered. Sit on down and look at these numbers...

Young conservative women, where are you hiding? A new poll by the Pew Research Center has concluded that "Barack Obama's advantages among women voters over his G.O.P. rivals are striking." And that's not the only huge (HUGE!) discrepancy the poll uncovered. Sit on down and look at these numbers...

The findings reported in the March poll revealed that among women voters, Obama led Romney by 20 points (the second consecutive month that Obama had such a substantial lead), yet among men, the two candidates were running about even. Obama also led Santorum overall by 18 points. In short? Right now, gender gap in candidate support is as wide as it was this time four years ago!

In March 2008, both Democratic candidates, Obama and Hillary Clinton, had narrower overall leads over John McCain than Obama has today. Obama ran about even with McCain among men, but he led by 14 points among women (53% to 39%). Clinton trailed among men, yet also led by 14 points among women.

What's more? These stats have basically been this way since 1980. Yowch!

What I found most striking were the numbers for young women: Obama led Romney by 31 points among women younger than 50, yet the two candidates ran about even with men. Check out the numbers on this chart, which breaks down the candidates supporters by age, gender, race, income, religion, education and more. I could seriously stare at this table all day.

The poll's findings also revealed that "just as women have been more likely to vote Democratic in presidential elections, a higher percentage also identifies with or leans toward the Democratic Party or lean Democratic." 52 percent of women identified as Democratic or Democratic-leaning, whereas only 43 percent of men did--the same gender gap as 1990.

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Another big-deal stat: although no gender gap was reported over abortion, the Pew Center found a serious discrepancy regarding gay marriage: "53% of women favored allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while 38% were opposed. More men opposed than supported same-sex marriage (51% to 40%)."

Fascinating, right? If you're as captivated by these numbers as I am (hooray, unboring stats! And how have I yet to mention my out-of-control crush on Nate Silver?), you're definitely going to want to see the rest of the report, which looks even more in-depth at divisive points like health care, gender and social issues, the environment, foreign policy and more.

Do these findings surprise you? Do they reflect the women you know? Why do you think such a substantial percentage of women support President Obama and identify as Democratic? We've got a lot to talk about!